Yes well, who said that macarons had to be 100% almond based? Not the pastry shops selling pistachio ones! Necessity is the mother of invention and that proved to be especially true last weekend when these little peanut macarons with a cream cheese buttercream and crystallized ginger center came out of my kitchen.

I had just finished an order for deep red and deep green holiday inspired macarons with traditional fillings and almond shells when I found an extra bowl of buttercream in the fridge, and plenty of ripe egg whites. Since I was on the macaron making train, I decided to make one more batch for us and the neighbors. When I went to weigh the almonds, I had half of what I needed...darn...out of pistachios too and the walnuts were going in cookies...but eh! Peanuts were sitting quiet and pretty on the pantry shelf so why not?! What do I have to lose? Flat macarons, sticky macarons, cracked macarons? Not a problem! They could always find their destiny in ice cream!

Really, what would be the big deal by replacing half the almonds with half peanuts? Peanuts are more oily than almonds but there would only be half the amount in the batter, not enough to make a big difference. I should be ok...and might as well pray too. A conversation with Veronica reinforced my belief things could get pretty tasty. I don't want to be stuck with eating macaron shells. Remember I am the one who loves making them but not that much eating them. Now is my time to fess up: I have already had six. That little surprise of ginger inside combined with the peanut taste and not too sweet filling is just sinful.

Another issue that afternoon was that I was running out of powdered red color so I knew these would not be as red as Christmas inspired ones. Oh well, there will just be as tasty, especially with the cream cheese buttercream filling, which is nothing more than a basic cream cheese frosting but a little less sweet. The crystallized ginger piece in the middle is completely borrowed from Karen's fabulousmacarons creations which you can go admire on her blog Mad Baker. Go check them out, I'll wait....

In a food processor, run the nuts and powdered sugar until the nuts are finely ground. Run through a sieve if needed.Whip the egg whites until foamy, slowly add the granulated sugar, until they are glossy. Add the red food coloring.Slowly fold the nut/sugar mixture into the whites with a wide spatula. The mixture should remain shiny and flow easily.Fill a pastry bag with the batter and pipe small rounds onto parchment lined baking sheets.Let the macarons rest for 20 minutes.Preheat the oven to 315 and when they are ready, bake them for 12-15 minutes.Let cool, remove from the paper and fill with the buttercream, add a piece of ginger and top with another macaron shell.

With a stand mixer and the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, give it one more whirl to incorporate everything. Fill a pastry bag with the mixture and fill the macaron shells.

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comments:

Hi, your macarons look so pretty. Just thought that I let you know that stumbled upon your blog and decided to join Daring Bakers. You are my inspiration Helene. Btw, i tried the Cinnamon Buns and the Pillow Cheese cake and they turned out yummy..am trying to post on my blog but unsuccesful so far.

Helen, you are so good with your macarons! I just had excellent raspberry and chocolate macca at a restaurant here. It is sort of chewier than the normal non-chocolate one... Do you have a recipe for something like that? Just let me know if you have one. Thanks millions! :)

How do you get them to come out so perfectly round and all the same size? I've never tried making sandwiches out of piped cookies, but I've made layer cakes out of baked meringue (either with or without nuts) and even if I am careful to draw circles on the back of the parchment paper and pipe the meringue exactly inside, they spread a bit while baking and need to be trimmed. Also they aren't perfectly smooth domes like yours, the surface comes out uneven (small cookies that can be piped without moving the pastry bag, the shape is smoother, but there's a point where I pulled the bag away.)

Those are beautiful and look delicious! I want to try peanut with coconut now. :)

If you don't mind me asking, how do you get the tops so perfectly smooth and shiny? My macarons always turn out tasty but a bit too lumpy on top, even when I grind the nuts very finely. Do you have a special grinder that can get them to that almost flour-like consistency?

Good golly that is inspired (even if it might have felt like desperation at the moment). And the ginger in the center, well dugh, brilliant. It gives me hope that you sometimes aren't totally keen on eating some sweets. I love baking them all but eating them very often is not high on my list. Doesn't seem right but there it is.

wow... these made me speechless... Helen, those are mighty fine lookin' macarons. Perfect, I have to say. wow.... sorry for my lack of eloquence, but I am just mesmerized by the skill in which you made those, and your creativity with the combination of flavours.

Anonymous: I am not sure I understand your question so this may not be what you are looking for: macarons DO HAVE air pockets between the bottom and the top. It will be bigger or smaller depending on how much you fold your batter. Whipped egg whites (meringue) create air pockets as they bake that's just part of the process.